Editorial: Gov. Scott tackles employment verification effort

Editorial

THE ISSUE: Florida tackles E-Verify system.

January 19, 2011

Last year on the campaign trail, Gov. Rick Scott and other Florida Republicans ran on a promise to crack down on illegal immigration. Now in office, they're running into the limits, practical and political, of a state trying to set its own immigration rules.

We welcome reasonable steps from state leaders to curb illegal immigration. However, the difficulties that leaders in Florida and other states are confronting on their own underscore the need for a national overhaul of immigration policy.

Ultimately, it's up to Congress, not 50 legislatures.

A case in point is employment verification.

In one of his first acts, Gov. Scott signed a sensible order that requires state agencies and employers with state contracts to use the federal E-Verify system. The system compares information from an employee's job documents to Homeland Security and Social Security records to determine if the employee is legally eligible to work.

The federal government has mandated that its contractors use E-Verify since September 2009. At least a dozen states also require some or all employers to use the system.

But Arizona, one of three states to pass a law forcing all employers to use E-Verify, has been sued by business groups that contend state-by-state requirements on immigration are unconstitutional.

E-Verify is not without other problems. A federal report found that while the system correctly determined a worker's eligibility 96 percent of the time, slightly more than half the illegal immigrants who should have been flagged by the system beat it by using fraudulent documents or identities.

As a spokeswoman for Gov. Scott argued, it's better to stop some illegal hires than none. But clearly the E-Verify system could use some improvements.

A more reliable system is only part of what's needed for immigration policy, because some industries vital to Florida's economy, such as agriculture, would struggle to find enough workers.

Former Gov. Jeb Bush made a similar point, telling The Wall Street Journal recently that he supports E-Verify. But he also said the nation needs a guest-worker program to help meet the demands of the economy, and should give illegal immigrants already in this country a chance at legal status if they pay a fine, learn English and stay out of trouble.

These initiatives would only be practical to impose from the federal level — which is where immigration policy belongs, anyway.

BOTTOM LINE: E-Verify efforts sensible, but point to need for federal action.